Chapter 4
Preston’s mother was named Elaine Hale.
Giulietta had met her once.
Six months earlier.
A quiet lunch in Connecticut.
Preston described Elaine as emotionally unstable, bitter about the divorce, and incapable of staying in the same room as Warren without creating drama.
Warren described her more generously.
“A difficult marriage damaged her.”
Giulietta had accepted both explanations because Elaine herself barely spoke about the past.
Now one sentence would not leave Giulietta alone.
This is how my father taught my mother to obey.
Naomi located the old divorce file.
Much of it had been sealed.
Enough remained public to raise questions.
Elaine filed for a temporary protective order twenty-one years earlier.
She withdrew it eleven days later.
Three weeks after that, Warren transferred a substantial settlement into a trust for her.
The divorce became private.
Preston remained primarily with Warren.
He had been eighteen.
“Was there ever a criminal case?” Giulietta asked.
“Nothing I can find.”
“Could the allegation have been false?”
“Yes.”
Naomi looked at her.
“Could it also have been true and settled privately? Yes.”
Giulietta did not contact Elaine immediately.
She did not want to turn one frightened woman’s old marriage into evidence simply because her son had become violent.
Instead, Naomi sent a neutral message through Elaine’s attorney.
Giulietta would speak if Elaine wished.
No pressure.
No subpoena.
No demand.
Elaine replied the following evening.
One sentence.
Ask Preston why Warren kept the golf clubs in the basement after I left.
Giulietta read it twice.
Naomi read it once.
Neither woman spoke for several seconds.
Finally Giulietta said, “I don’t like where this is going.”
Naomi answered quietly.
“You’re not supposed to.”
Elaine agreed to meet.
But only without Preston.
Without Warren.
And without anyone from the Marconi family except Giulietta and Naomi.
The meeting was scheduled for Friday.
Before it happened, Preston’s attorney called.
Preston wanted to negotiate.
Not the assault case.
The business dispute.
That interested Naomi.
“What does your client want?” she asked.
The answer was strange.
Preston wanted Giulietta to stop the forensic review of the Hale-Marconi joint venture.
In exchange, Hale Hospitality would walk away from the revised guarantee.
Giulietta stared at the speakerphone.
“The guarantee I already refused to sign?”
Preston’s lawyer hesitated.
“Yes.”
Giulietta ended the call.
May you like
A man facing the collapse of his wedding was trying to trade away something he had never possessed.
Which meant he was far more afraid of the review than of losing the deal.
